Neko Dilemma
by simplified
Summary: Akira brings home a cat and starts to care for it, only to find out that it ISN'T really a cat after all...
1. 1 Neko comes home

**A/N:** This got sparked off by numerous counts of Rei being described as catty and such, which suits him actually. By the way, KY stands for Kuuki Yomenai, which literally means "unable to read the atmosphere". I thought it suited Akira under those situations...

**Disclaimer:** If I actually owned this thing, Akira and Rei wouldn't just be kissing...

"Look, it's all your fault. Happy now?" Akira fumed at the feline furball circling his feet blissfully. It licked its paws and gave Akira such a loving look that he almost snapped. Grabbing the bag of groceries he'd just paid for, he stormed out of the convenience store with as fierce a look that he can manage, his pockets full of mud and a cat trailing closely behind him.

The rain was barely letting up as Akira strode down the sidewalk, bag slung over his shoulders. He was not looking forward to having to wash his uniform now torn and absolutely filthy – the culprit is currently still bent on following him home. "If it wasn't for you, I would not have fallen into the ditch trying to save your sorry ass! Now leave me alone!!" He shouted irritably at the cat, who just stared at him with a sorrowful look that sent shivers down Akira's spine.

The cat followed him back anyway.

"Looks like I've got no choice, do I?" Akira sighed in defeat while he dried himself. He didn't feel a need to worry about the cat, which seemed healthy and fit enough to stalk him all the way here. Just then, he noticed the cat eyeing his towel enviously; he'd forgotten that it was still wet and dripping _all over his bedroom floor_. "Woah! Stay there! If you're going to stick with me the least you could do is to not ruin _my_ room." Dropping his towel, Akira frantically dug through his wardrobe for a hair dryer, which he vaguely remembered being rusty from misuse but it'd still work for situations like this.

Moments later, the cat was snug and warm under Akira's old jacket, with a bowl of warm milk held in front of it to boot. "I guess I'll be taking care of you now, kitty." Akira set the bowl down and stroked the cat gently while it licked at the milk.

"Well, first I gotta name you don't I? What would be nice...?" Just then the cat squirmed out of the jacket and literally dragged Akira's bag over by the little bell that hung on it, before thrusting it into Akira's lap. "Wha- hey! Don't play with that! It's...oh, I think I know what to call you now!! I'll name you 'Nyan-ko' then, since that seemed really popular among my classmates." Akira said excitedly while pulling the cat onto his lap to stroke its body. He could've sworn the cat gave him a mutilating glare and shrugged while it curled up into a rather tensed ball of fur. Being the KY person that he is, Akira supposed the name was alright for the cat.

Akira yawned and stretched; it was only beginning to darken outside but somehow he could feel the weariness down to every bone in his skinny frame. "I think I'll be getting some sleep now. You're sleeping with me, right?" Akira said as he carried it up onto his bed. Nyan-ko seemed to be fine with it, if not a little too overjoyed to lean further into Akira's embrace.

_It doesn't seem too bad to live with._ Akira thought as he drifted off to a peaceful sleep. For the first time in ages, the night didn't feel so lonely anymore without his family.

* * *

Akira was woken up by a vague 'poof!' sound next to him. Groggily, he cracked an eye open and received the greatest shock of his life.

Instead of a tea-colored feline, Akira had woken up next to a stunningly pretty boy with pale gray hair and completely in the nude. Akira had his arm around the boy, and their legs were entangled too.

He did the most sensible thing he could think of at that moment: he screamed, dislodged himself as far as he could from the stranger, and tumbled head first onto the floor.

The resulting crash woke the strange boy; he popped his head out from under the blanket and yawned lazily while Akira could only stare at him. Slowly, the boy opened his eyes - Akira noticed they were gray - and turned to look at the dumbfounded Akira who was still in a heap on the floor. "Good morning," the stranger flashed a dazzling smile that caused Akira to forget how to breath momentarily, "did you sleep well last night?"

"Umm, well, that..." Akira fumbled for words while the stranger(still naked) started crawling in his direction. "Hey NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Akira shouted as he scrambled away blushing furiously. Seeing the wounded expression on the stranger, he decided to soften his tone slightly, "Who are you anyway?"

"You were the one who saved me yesterday right?" The stranger tilted his head to one side and gave Akira a queer look. "I'm the one you named 'Nyan-ko', you know, the cat?"

"...Wait, do you expect me to believe that you're really the cat I picked up yesterday? It doesn't make sense no matter how you see it." Akira pointed out. Nyan-ko just gave him a smirk and suddenly a cloud of white smoke appeared around him with a soft 'poof!'. It smelled of vanilla, though somehow it wasn't particularly pleasant to the nose.

When the smoke cleared and Akira was done coughing, he couldn't help but gape at the cat ears and tail that stuck out of Nyan-ko's head and back, and somehow Nyan-ko had moved closer to him while he was distracted. _That sneaky-_ Akira was in mid-thought when the catboy suddenly jumped him. They both fell backwards and Akira was pinned underneath. "Well, do you..." Nyan-ko started licking the back of Akira's ears and Akira's heart nearly stopped; he could feel a sudden rush of blood coursing through his face.

"...believe me now?" Catboy finished the sentence and nibbled on Akira's earlobe. Just then, his instincts kicked in and Akira shoved Nyan-ko away and rolled out from underneath. "You... I... Get out..." Akira panted, "I can accept that you were the cat but-" He stopped suddenly as the catboy's expression slowly fell.

"Is living with me...such a bad thing?" Nyan-ko asked with a shaky voice.

Akira felt his previous determination wane considerably;Nyan-ko looked as if his heart had been shattered (were those tears staining that angelic face that Akira saw?). Not wanting to hurt him any further, Akira reached his hand out and stroked Nyan-ko's head. His hair was surprisingly soft to the touch. The last of Akira's reluctance drained away when the other boy leaned into his touch like a little child, "No, I guess it's not. You can stay, provided that you stick to a few rules." Almost immediately Nyan-ko's head perked up, all sadness replaced by so brilliant a smile that Akira felt his eyes sting from the brightness. _This guy...he's definitely a weird one._

"So... if we're going to stay together, you'll have to start calling me by my name properly." The catboy said happily.

"I already gave you one - it's 'Nyan-ko' right?" Akira scratched his head. He's sure going to take a long time to get used to this.

"Well, no. I didn't have a say in that so it's invalid," He licked his tail and grinned. "My name's 'Rei'. Please take care of me from now on, Akira-sama."

Akira nearly had a heart attack there and then - he was sure he hadn't told Rei his name yet!


	2. 2 Neko meets sashimi

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own this; I am merely a fan of it :D

Rule #1: Do not question what the master feeds you.

"Tsuru no Ongaeshi?" Akira raised an eyebrow at Rei as he stirred the pot of miso soup.

Rei nodded while he tugged at the zipper of Akira's jacket – Akira forced his clothes onto Rei a moment ago. "Animals do have a mind of their own, you know. You saved my life, so I owe you a debt and I'm here to repay that favor." He tucked his legs to his chest and watched Akira prepare his lunch.

"So... is that the only reason why you are here? To repay that debt?" Akira tried to pass it off as casually as he could, but he wasn't prepared for that little stab at the back of his chest when Rei nodded, just as casually. "Well, then don't just sit around and get in the way. Help me slice that piece of maguro over there before it turns bad." Akira snapped. Puzzled by what got his master into a foul mood, Rei jumped up and promptly started fumbling with the fish.

"NO! Stop, you-!" Rei was just about to cut his entire finger off along with the fish. Akira muttered gibberish under his breath, dropped everything he was doing and rushed over to Rei, taking the knife from him as he demonstrated how to slice fish the housewife way. "And that's how you... hey, you're getting too close." Rei had sneaked his arms around Akira and rested his head on Akira's head to watch him handle the fish. "Yes, what about me being too close?" Rei lowered his head and breathed on Akira's ear. Akira felt his face grow painfully hot and he squirmed against Rei's vice-like grip. "L-let go of me!"

As common sense and plot development dictates, Akira cut his finger with the knife. Slightly.

He winced as bright drops of blood ran down his hand, Rei's stunned expression giving him all the apologies he needed. Snapping out of his daze, he lifted Akira's wounded hand and licked the cut, gently.

"Wha- what are... are you doing?" Akira stammered as Rei skillfully cleaned off the blood. "Helping it... heal faster" Rei said while encircling the wound with his tongue.

His pained expression turned to a blush as Akira realised that it _felt good_. Disgusted with himself, he quickly pulled his hand out of Rei's grasp and examined it. The blood had actually stopped and the wound looked almost a day old. He looked up, surprised, and found himself looking into Rei's beautiful gray eyes, which were lined with a frown of concern.

_His eyelashes are so long they could pass for a girl's..._ Akira noticed. The gray eyes dropped to his wound and all at once, Rei's expression turned into one so sad that it took Akira all his willpower to not glomp him. "I...It's my fault that you cut yourself. I'm sorry." The last two words were almost inaudible.

"Well, if you're really sorry, then start making yourself useful and serve the rice." Akira smiled and looked up at Rei (who nearly towered over him). "It's not entirely your fault so don't blame yourself. You helped me seal the wound, right?" He showed Rei the half-healed wound; all that remained of it now is just a thin line of dried blood.

Rei's mood seemed to be a lot better by the time lunch was served.

"Yosh! Itadakimasu!" Akira clapped his hands together and began digging into his rice. Rei just sat there and stared at his food. "What's wrong?" Akira asked between mouthfuls of rice and sashimi. "I brought out that piece of expensive maguro specially for you. Cats like to eat fish, right?"

Rei shook his head vehemently. "I don't eat raw food." He said, and Akira nearly fell off the chair in exasperation. So some god up there wanted him to keep a lecherous cat-boy with him, fine. But a cat which doesn't eat raw fish?! "Then, what kind of food do you like to eat?" Akira tried. Rei seemed to think deeply for a while, then he answered, "Chocolate."

A chocolate-eating cat which hates raw tuna. _Why me?_ Akira cried to no one in particular.

"Since you're staying in my house, you eat whatever I cook. That's rule number one," Akira declared. "Never question what the master feeds you, got it?"

Rei nodded calmly and started nibbling on some of the fish, a pained expression crossed his face as he tried to swallow the fish with a huge mouthful of rice. By the time he finished his rice, there was still more than half a plate of fish left.

"There! I'm done." Rei said quickly before getting up and then promptly collapsing onto the floor. By the time Akira reached him, he was panting hard and his temperature rose at a shocking speed. "Rei! What's wrong? Rei! Rei!" The last thing Rei saw was Akira's worried face hovering above him, then it faded to nothingness.


	3. 3 Neko and bathtime

**CHAPTER THREE**

**A/N: **Sorry I took so long to update! Too much work on my hands and I just couldn't find the energy to write. Translation note here: Kami-sama means "God", or divine being or whatever.

**Disclaimer: **In this entire story, only the words belong to me T.T Why is life so unfair?

Rule #2: A cat that stinks up the bed will always be a bad cat.

When Rei opened his eyes again, Akira's worried face hovered above his own. Instinctively, he moved up and kissed Akira on his forehead.

"You!" Akira wiped the spot where Rei had kissed him and blushed furiously. "Why can't you behave more like a cat?!" Rei just sat up slowly, a cold towel slid down his forehead and plopped onto the blanket. Looking around, he realized he was in Akira's room. _He... carried me all the way here and took care of me?_

The answer was apparent as Akira rubbed his eyes with a sleepy yawn. "Dang, I still have school tomorrow and I haven't finished my homework..." He spotted Rei staring at him. "What?"

"You took care of me through the night?" He vaguely remembered passing out in the dining room.

"I couldn't just leave you there could I? You were sweating and mumbling incoherent things, not to mention being feverish and still manage to be lecherous as always. At least you're fine now," Akira glared at him, but then his expression softened.

"Did you... have a different owner before me?"

Rei was silent for a moment, then he nodded slowly. "What did you hear while I was unconscious?"

"Many things..." Akira shifted uncomfortably. "Mostly you were telling someone to stop, and occasionally you screamed.

"It doesn't take a genius to know that you've been through unpleasant things."

Rei's expression was unreadable. "Someday..."

He pulled Akira into his arms and closed his eyes.

"Someday I'll be able to tell you everything. For now, thank you for taking care of me."

For the first time, Akira didn't object to Rei's signs of affection; he'd never heard Rei speak so sincerely before. He put his arms around Rei as well and stroked his soft gray hair, only to start squirming when Rei started pulling Akira into the bed. "R-Rule number two!" Akira broke out of Rei's embrace and jabbed a finger at him.

"A cat that stinks up my bed will always be a bad cat!" He wrinkled his nose. "You need a bath."

At the word 'bath', Rei leaped out of the bed and backed away from Akira as far as he could. "NO! NO BATH! BATH NOT GOOD NO NO NO!!" A horrified and helpless expression filled his face.

_He's actually really cute..._ Akira thought and couldn't help sniggering at Rei. "Rei! Come here!" He commanded. Reluctantly, very very very reluctantly, Rei obeyed and walked over. Akira then dragged a protesting Rei into the bathroom and threw him into the showers.

"Now, shower like a good kitty while I get you some clothes, okay?" Akira was about to leave when Rei pulled him into the showers too.

"No. Stay and bathe with me, Akira-sama." Rei literally begged, puppy eyes and all.

"You can do it yourself! Let me go!"

"I...I don't know HOW to!" Rei unwillingly admitted and his face grew redder than a cooked lobster.

Akira stared at Rei incredulously. _Kami-sama? If you're even listening, I think you must be a sadist because you are definitely enjoying this._

"Well, you... first you take off your clothes." Akira became startlingly aware of how close they were as Rei shrugged off his shirt. "Can you let me out of this first?"

Smirking, Rei moved around to block the shower door. "No, if you're going to make me bathe, you're doing it with me." He leaned in and pressed his lips softly, but firmly against Akira's

Akira momentarily forgot how to breathe, until his head spun did he try to push Rei away from him. _His lips are so soft. How cute. _Rei thought as Akira stared at him in disbelief, his face redder than Rei's had been just a moment ago. "Stop," Akira's voice was barely above a whisper. "Stop doing this just because you find it very fun!"

Rei was taken aback by Akira's reaction; he wasn't expecting something like this at all. "That was my first kiss... stop teasing me when you don't mean it."

"No, I won't." Rei said simply, grabbing Akira by his shoulders.

"What do you mean by you won't!?" Akira demanded.

"I won't, because I do mean it."

Akira was stunned, "But you're just here to repay my kindness."

"I could have not bothered to. I could have just left you alone and that would be the last you saw of me.

"But I didn't."

Rei closed his eyes and rested his head on Akira's shoulders. "I know words are easy to say, but I love you." Silent tears streaked down Akira's face as he wrapped his arms around Rei. How long has it been since he'd heard someone say that to him? Ever since his grandmother passed away, Akira hadn't found the courage to truly love anything or anyone, pretending to the extent that he'd even forgotten how it feels like. Though he wasn't sure whether what he felt now was love he still couldn't break away when Rei kissed him again, this time with more passion than before.

Akira gasped slightly as Rei's tongue found its way into his mouth. Rei reached under his shirt and rubbed his nipples between his fingers and Akira moaned, which turned Rei on completely as he unbuttoned Akira's pants skillfully. His mouth turned its attention to Akira's collarbone, licking and sucking the sensitive area. Akira had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from screaming as Rei's fingers touched his erection. _This is so embarrassing..._

Akira stepped backwards slightly, knocking against the tap and causing a cascade of warm water to shower down upon them. All at once Rei tensed up and pressed himself against Akira, shivering in fear. Akira had never seen Rei in such a vulnerable state before. Suddenly remembering what he'd set out to do, he pushed Rei away gently and held his face between his hands, "Well then, shall we continue with your shower?"

Rei's disgusted face spelled out 'NO' in more languages than can be recorded by mankind, but Akira ignored him anyway and starting unbuttoning Rei's pants. Unwilling as he was, Rei obediently shrugged out of his clothes and sat there stark naked and shivering on Akira's bathroom floor. Akira could feel his face heat up all over again as he poured shampoo on his palms and started massaging Rei's scalp.

"See? There's nothing to be afraid of." Akira smiled comfortingly as he shampooed Rei's hair. After a while, Rei stopped trembling and began enjoying his bath, even purring slightly as Akira scrubbed his back. "Okay, so I guess you can continue by yourself..."

Just then, Rei grabbed Akira and curled into his lap, staining Akira's clothes with soap suds and making them even wetter than they had been. "Ugh! You! Are you trying to make me bathe too?"

Rei just purred like any other cat and grinned at him; Akira dunked a pail of cold water over his smug face, wiping the silly smile off Rei's face almost instantly.


	4. 4 Neko goes to school

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**A/N: **I'm writing this while doing math, so forgive the incoherence if there's any. Work just doesn't stop piling on me and I'm choosing to ignore them at my expense. My chapters seem to be getting longer though, is that a good sign?

**Disclaimer: **Someday, if I'm rich enough, I'll buy over the copyright of this manga. SOMEDAY.

Rule #3: When approached by other humans, the only answers a cat is allowed to give are 'Yes' and 'No'.

Weekdays, generally greeted by much complaints and grumbling by students, are Akira's favorite time in the week. Why? Simply because he gets to play around with other friends and unlike most students, Akira is easily satisfied. He loved to run around the soccer field, pull minor pranks on his friends, and all the usual stuff schoolboys did.

At least, that was until Rei popped into his life and turned it upside down.

"Okay, I'm going to school now, so you be good and stay at home." Akira said impatiently.

"No, I'm going with you." Rei stubbornly stood his ground. "I promise I'll fit in perfectly and not attract too much attention."

Akira seriously doubted what Rei said but it doesn't look like Rei is going to give in any time soon. "If I said no and left you here, what can you do about it?"

"Sneak out and stalk you all the way to the classroom." Rei replied simply.

_Looks like I don't really have a choice,_ Akira sighed and crossed his arms. "But I don't have any spare uniform for you! You're way too tall and big and-"

"Don't worry. I'll have a way." Rei smiled assuringly and Akira shivered. "So does that mean you're taking me along?"

Akira nodded unwillingly, "But I have another rule: when approached by any other human, you're only allowed to answer either 'Yes' or 'No'. Stay out of trouble or I'm putting a leash on you."

That turned out to be a big mistake.

***

"Hey, look at that guy over there."

"Oh my god, he's smoking hot! Even though I've never seen him before."

"Yeah me neither, but he looks really good with the cute one next to him too..."

"Is he a model? Or an idol maybe?!"

"He's looking this way! I think I'm going to faint."

Akira could feel his eyebrows twitch while he and Rei made their way to the classroom. A rather large and noisy crowd of girls(including some guys) had already gathered along the hallway – so much for promising that he won't attract attention. Well, at least it was slightly better than what he did earlier.

Before they'd reached the school, Rei calmly walked over to the rather large and deep pond outside and gave a look of disgust before taking off his clothes and wading in. Fully drenched, Rei strode boldly into the school grounds and as luck would have it, the female discipline mistress saw him.

"You! Why aren't you in school uniform?"

"I'm sorry sensei, I fell into the pond outside the school and this was all I have with me to change into," Rei gave an apologetic smile. Akira could only gape at how blatant that lie had been – strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely untruthful either.

And then, a miracle happened.

"Uhm oh, you fell into the pond? Dear me..." The discipline mistress(33 years old, unmarried) blushed as she caught the full force of Rei's gray eyes. "We'd better get you changed out. If I'm not wrong the school has a few sets of spare uniform that can fit you." Rei flashed his perfectly white and straight teeth and Akira had to hold on to the discipline mistress to stop her from hitting the ground as she swooned.

_Looks like a pretty face can get you anywhere in life, huh._ Akira walked into the classroom and was greeted by his usual bunch of friends. "Yo Akira! Who's that guy behind you?" A boy named Hiyori raised his hand and asked. "My...cousin. He's sticking around until his parents pick him up from my house. He's a foreigner, you see." Akira mock-slapped Hiyori's hand and got a grin in reply. Suddenly, an arm shot out from behind Akira and pulled him backwards, and he collided with a soft thud against Rei's chest. Rei glared daggers at Hiyori, who took it as his cue to escape while he could.

"Erm, I think I left something at the locker's... I'll go check." Hiyori muttered as he moved as far as he could from Rei, before dashing out of the class. Rei tightened his arms around Akira, causing the bunch of fangirls outside the class to scream in ecstasy. "What are you doing?!" Akira's eyes widened in embarrassment and panic. Rei didn't say anything, but he didn't let go either until the teacher came in and drove the crowd away did he silently slide outside. He'd said something about going to the rooftop so Akira didn't really paid much attention to that. It was only until he didn't appear during lunch did Akira start worrying and went to search for Rei.

***

Rei cracked his eye open and, for a moment, he thought he'd gone to heaven. Then he realized that he was on the rooftops and that thought drove him back to reality. A distant bell chimed and from the amount of noise that had erupted, Rei supposed it was lunchtime and he wearily dragged himself back towards the classroom.

"Hey you, what's your name?" A rather rude but pretty girl came up to him and stopped him in the corridor. Rei was about to reply with something sarcastic when he remembered Akira's rule.

"No." Rei deadpanned.

"Huh? You mean your name is 'No'?" The girl was confused, and her friends started gathering around her out of curiosity.

"No." Rei was getting impatient. They were wasting his time which could have been spent on better things such as looking for Akira.

"So you don't want to tell us?" The girl crossed her arms and huffed. "Fine, then what's your relationship with Nonaka-san? Friends?"

"No."

"What do you mean by 'no'? Then why are you so close to him?"

"Yes"

"So now you're friends?"

"No."

"No, you're not friends?"

"No."

"Okay, now I'm confused." The girl shook her head in exasperation.

"Yes." Rei offered, before walking past her towards the classrooms.

"Wait! I still don't know your name yet!" The girl called after him.

"NO!" Rei shouted back in case she followed him, and almost walked into Akira. "Rei, what are you doing? Your lunch is getting cold, come on." Akira took Rei's hand and pulled him along. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a very bewildered Shizuoka-san and wondered what did Rei do to her.

Back in the class, Akira attempted to eat in peace with Rei but he just couldn't swallow properly, at least not with half the girls in the class gathered around them. "Hey, Nonaka-san, introduce him to us, won't you?"

"Erm... he's my cousin from America and he's just visiting for the... month."

"Oooh, what's his name?" Another girl piped, casting shy glances at the much indifferent Rei.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Akira wanted more than anything to just continue with his meal.

The girls gave him a dirty look and turned their attention to Rei. "Tell us your name, won't you?"

"No."

Akira nearly choked on his rice and had to pass his laughter off as a coughing fit.

"Takamoto! Hitting on my guy now, are we?" Shizuoka stormed into the classroom and seethed, "I should have known you were going to do that."

"Excuse me?" One of the girls currently surrounding Rei stood up in disgust. "Since when was he ever yours?"

"Yes." Rei said absent-mindedly as he fiddled with a piece of egg.

That really did it; the two girls started shouting at each other and the whole commotion ended with both parties slapping each other and running to the toilets at either ends of the corridor. When the crowd had dispersed, Akira saw Hiyori sneaking into the class behind Rei's back, attempting to reach his seat without being noticed. "Hiyori! Where do you think you're going?" Tamaki, who was probably Hiyori's best friend, appeared at the door. Hiyori tried to silence Tamaki but Rei turned around and gave him a glare so fierce that he just hid behind his friend, trembling.

"Oh! A new student!" Tamaki exclaimed as he approached them. "And they got matching bentos too! Hiyori I want one, make one for me tomorrow okay?"

"I'm not your maid, for goodness' sake!" Hiyori snapped though a slight blush crept across his face.

"But you still can make one for me, can't he?" Tamaki directed his question to Rei.

"Yes."

"See? You can!" Tamaki smirked. Hiyori gave Rei a half-horrified, half-furious look. "I'm beginning to like this new-comer here."

Akira could only sigh in defeat. Now that so many people noticed, he'd have to bring Rei to school with him for that whole month!

He was so not looking forward to it.


End file.
